Beyonce Surprises Global Citizen Festival During Jay Z’s Set

Jay Z and Beyoncé may have just wrapped up their On the Run tour earlier this month, but the pair aren’t finished sharing the stage yet. During his headlining performance at the Global Citizen Festival on Saturday, the rapper brought his wife out as a surprise guest for two songs in the couple’s New York hometown.

Beyoncé made a dramatic entrance onto the Central Park stage to close out Jay Z’s set, delivering her take on Justin Timberlake’s vocal parts for “Holy Grail.” After finishing that number, Jay Z rallied the audience with an acknowledgment of the event’s poverty-fighting mission: “If you’re committed to this Global Citizen movement, we need lighters, lighters, lighters, lighters!” With that, the pair launched into “Young Forever,” to which Jay Z added some further exhortations to the cause. “We’re gonna end extreme poverty by 2030! It’s on you, New York City!”

The rapper’s call for individual efforts echoes the ethos of the concert’s hosts, the Global Poverty Project, which offers 80 percent of its festival tickets free to those who participate in poverty-related activism through its online platform. “Change only takes place when and where there is action,” Jay Z said in a statement earlier this summer. “I’m joining the 2014 Global Citizen Festival because I believe through actions, whether it be by raising awareness, getting involved or educating ourselves, the goal to end extreme poverty by 2030 is possible.”

Saturday’s concert had another notable guest appearance in store. During No Doubt’s set, Sting joined the band onstage to perform the Police hit “Message in a Bottle.”